The Greek Debt Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Greece, Evangelos Venizelos, delivered a speech entitled "The Greek Debt Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities" at the Peterson Institute for International Economics on July 25, 2011. His presentation at the Institute was his only public appearance during his visit to Washington to meet with top IMF and US officials to discuss the Greek reform program and financing for it.

Minister Venizelos assumed his current responsibilities on June 17. He had previously been Minister for National Defense since October 2009. In previous Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) governments, he held five other ministerial appointments including Minister for Justice, Minister for Culture (on two occasions), and Minister for Development. He has been a member of the PASOK central committee since 1990, a member of its executive bureau, and an elected member of Parliament from Thessaloniki in six consecutive elections. He is a lawyer by training and has written a number of books, most recently Agenda 16 (2007).